Chapter 74
From ... shh, it’s a secret
9/17/94
Dear Frida,
I’m sure you’re wondering why this letter wasn’t mailed to you. You’re wondering why Faith gave it to you and why she made you come to Chez Lisette to read it. What surprise do I have in store for you? Are the Ramonas going to pop out of the kitchen and do a choregraphed dance to Fair Kate’s Friends Forever Mixtape for Frida?
Be patient. It’s a virtue. Not necessarily yours. Ha!
I want to tell you a story.
One sunny summer morning in Seattle, Fair Kate the Bookseller bought an Access Guide to Paris with her employee discount at The Puget Sound Book Company. Then she walked up the street to Metsker Maps to get her passport photo taken before heading to Queen Anne Travel for a round-trip ticket to Paris on TWA.
She packed a suitcase with émile Zola’s The Belly of Paris , Elizabeth Bowen’s The House in Paris , and Simone de Beauvoir’s The Mandarins . For the non-Paris tasting menu, she chose Corelli’s Mandolin (lots of book clubs are reading it even though it’s still in hardback) and When Heaven and Earth Changed Places (so you can learn more about Vietnam). Also crammed in were a Pretenders t-shirt for Lejla, hot-pink Chuck Taylors for Merjema, local goodies (Almond Roca and MarketSpice tea) for Faith and the rest of the Ramonas, two Smurfette outfits for Branka, and boxes of orange Jell-O, Betty Crocker yellow cake mix, and Skippy so I can make Jell-O salad and peanut butter cookies in Lisette’s kitchen. (No need to pack butter for making Laurie Colwin’s tomato pie crust since you’re swimming in it over there.)
When I was rereading your letters on the ferry a while ago, I started making a list of subjects for us to discuss because I knew in my heart we’d meet one day soon. I want to know what you meant when you said color is everything in America, and I have thoughts on why the world can mourn Kurt Cobain but not hundreds of thousands of Tutsis. I typed up four chapters of my novel for you to read (yes, there’s a girl playing cards with her dad in the middle of the night), and I’ve started a notebook of ideas for your book.
Then there is the fat envelope I put in my fanny pack. When everyone at the store found out I was going to Paris, I got called upstairs to the receiving department. The whole gang was there: Stella, Kids Books Josephine, Fiction Section Polly, Travel Section Jane, Caftan Dawn, Special Orders Mae, Night Manager K2, Birkenstock Otis, and of course Roy. They gave me the envelope with these words written on it: “Well done, Perky! Have a nice day!” It contained $2,700 for the Ramona Club!! We get tiny profit-sharing checks every year, and even though the store’s owner is always bugging us to buy stock in Microsoft (I guess because it’s local), they figured this was a better investment. When Roy hugged me, he slipped a twenty into my pocket and whispered, “Have a Pernod with the ghost of Fitzgerald at Les Deux Magots for me.”
By now your clever brain has figured it out.
Look up, Frida.
Look around until you notice the blonde with the shaggy Meg Ryan haircut at the table by the window. Do a double take. Don’t just sit there looking stunned. Get over here and give me a hug!
Love from Paris,
Your Fair Friend Kate